Mary Oliver’s “Instructions for Living a Life” advises that we should “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
I thought of this when I read today’s quick-write on Kate Messner’s Teacher’s Write blog post. I’m often astonished by the beauty of the fields around my house, especially in summer. I’ve written about this in my journals over the years, and Kate’s post inspired me to turn these observations into a poem.
Sometimes, on a summer morning
Grandpa Stuart’s fields are touched
by the rays of the rising sun
so just the top of the grasses
glow in the yellow light.
Goldfinches perch on purple thistles,
breakfasting on seeds.
Sometimes, a deer wanders into the field,
interrupting their feast.
Startled, they rise as one
into the air, darting and diving,
chittering as they fly
before settling down
to the business at hand:
harvesting the glorious sunshine
captured in those thistles.
What astonished you today?
This post is doing double duty for today’s Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers. Thank you, as always, to Stacey and Ruth for hosting!
Reading to the Core 
Beautiful! As a city dweller, this sounds heavenly!
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Your poem lets me see the field, too. I especially liked the closing lines
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Beautiful imagery of light, life, and movement. I love it!
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Catherine,
what astonished me today was the sticky sweltering heat-a day so sticky, even bugs would not move-now we’re experiencing lines of thunderstorms moving through-a lot of lightening. I feel badly for anyone with difficulty breathing on days like these-it scares me to think of the heat causing suffering for people who can’t breathe well.
Your poem sweetly captures the work and the play of the little birdies. Thank you for taking time to notice them and share details about their scene. it’s fun to watch them with the thistle isn’t it?
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Thank you, Amy, for taking the time to read and comment. Was it you who mentioned “perfection paralysis” during Teachers Write last year? I’ve been working hard to overcome mine, and receiving comments like yours has made that much easier!
My son had asthma when he was little. It was frightening to watch him struggle to breathe, I felt so helpless. Thankfully, he outgrew it. I love your observation that it was “so sticky, even the bugs would not move.” It was like that here, too, but I was in air-conditioning working on curriculum.
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What astonished me (besides your beautiful and oh so poetic poem!) is that on my way to the National Writing Project (75 mile drive) I actually had ideas swirling through my brain for writing. It’s like a bug that I just caught and can’t get rid of. What a nice thing to have. 🙂
Shannon
http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com
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Thank you, Shannon! It’s amazing how your brain starts playing with words and sentences once you get started. Sometimes it’s hard to stop.
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Hang on, I’m just about to move outside with my camera to capture my view of summer sunrise. I’m inspired by you 🙂
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I’m so flattered! I’m always inspired by you 🙂
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I am reading and re-reading your poem, and find myself getting lost of just the lovely, particular noticings you created. Just beautiful!
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You have captured something deeply personal that has moved to the universal, such a noticing of beauty and sunlight. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Happy you are one of my Teachers Write camp-mates!
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Beautiful writing!
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I loved it! I especially loved the contrast of colors in the goldfinches on the purple thistles image. Teachers Write is so inspiring, isn’t it?! Keep up the good writing!
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Simply lovely. I’m off on a writing journey this summer and your poem was an inspiring beginning. Thank you so much for sharing!
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